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Proposal Details

Proposal ID264
ProposalRevision Of Presidential Campaign Support Committee PCSC Policies And Procedures
Floor ManagerHolly Hart
Discussion02/26/2007 - 03/11/2007
Voting03/12/2007 - 03/18/2007
Presens Quorum32 0.6666
Consens Quorum39 A Majority of Yes and No Votes


In April 2006, the GNC approved Proposal 215, amending the PSCS P&Ps to put in a more thorough mission statement and objectives list. With a clearer concept of what the role of the committee should be, the PCSC now needs to amend its P&Ps to have more thorough policies and procedures for internal committee decision-making, as the existing rules are extremely deficient.

Substantive changes from the original P&Ps include:

* Liaisons from other committees will no longer be considered voting members.

* All state parties and caucuses may put at least three people on the committee, or as many people as the state or caucus is entitled to have on the GNC, whichever number is larger. Under the old rules, state parties will smaller delegations could place only up to two members on the committee.

* The number of co-chairs is reduced from four to two, and rules for election are added.

* Language on member sanction and removal is added to match similar P&Ps from other committees.

* Language on decision-making processes are added.

The role of the committee has changed since its inception. The committee has evolved into being a working committee more like most other standing committees. This was reflected in the enhanced mission statement approved last April.

This proposal, by making it clearer how PCSC is to handle decision-making and other things, will make it easier for proposals to be reported out by PCSC in a timely manner and should in general create a clearer working environment for committee members.


The following Policies and Procedures document for the Presidential Campaign Support Committee is hereby approved by the National Committee, which will replace the existing document:


GPUS Presidential Campaign Support Committee (PCSC)
Policies and Procedures

I. Mission Statement

The PCSC will represent GPUS in the coordination of communication with Green Presidential campaigns. To that end, it will coordinate between accredited state parties and caucuses, national committees, GPUS and the nominee to ensure that there is both good communication and working relationship between party and candidate. In future presidential election cycles, before there is a nominee, the PCSC will be responsible for some aspects of helping the state parties through the nominee-finding process. The PCSC will as a matter of course take grassroots input into account, and have as overarching goal the growth of the Green Party.

II. Objectives

The following is a non-exhaustive list of objectives and goals which the PCSC will be charged with carrying out. Additional objectives may be added by the GPUS National Committee, Steering Committee, or full PCSC.

A. The PCSC will liaison between candidates and the Ballot Access Committee to formulate and implement ballot access strategy;

B. The PCSC will create and maintain a list of initial points of contact, bylaws, and election laws for each state and caucus to provide as resource to the candidates (before the convention) and nominee (after the convention);

C. The PCSC will assist state parties in creating and conducting a process that gets grassroots input into determining presidential preference and selecting delegates to the nominating convention. Prior to the Nominating Convention the PCSC will assist state parties in polling their membership to determine potential candidates and will publish the results of the poll, as well as sending a letter to all potential candidates consisting of the results of the poll and our contact information as a committee so that potential candidates may reach us to make use of our available support services;

D. The PCSC will coordinate public debates between candidates for the GPUS nomination;

E. The PCSC will lead and organize efforts to open the presidential debates to Green Candidates and work to raise awareness of open debates.

F. The PCSC will lead and liaison between the ANMC, Media Committee, and candidates on coordination of a pre-nomination candidate forum and post nomination campaign launch at the Presidential Nominating Convention.

G. In cooperation with ANMC, Media Committee and Webmaster, the PCSC will create and maintain an official pre-Convention web site to provide candidate information, resource links and tracking of the delegate selection process, and a post-convention web site to display the results of the nominating convention and provide links to the presidential candidate's official web site.

H. The PCSC will provide coordination for communication between the GPUS committees and the candidates (before the convention) and nominee (after the convention);

I. The PCSC will assemble legal resources and advisors on issues of federal election law where appropriate and necessary;

J. The PCSC will provide coordination with the CCC regarding cooperation between nominee and down-ticket candidacies.

K. The PCSC will develop, and administer GPUS candidate questionnaire to potential candidates and make available candidate responses to State Parties through the GPUS web site, National Committee delegates, Caucus delegates, and State Chairs.

II. Committee Structure

A. Voting Membership. The voting membership of the committee shall consist of Green Party members from the various state parties and caucuses who have been approved to serve by their state party or caucus. Each state party and caucus may have as many voting members on the committee as they have delegates to the National Committee, or may have as many as three voting members on the committee, whichever number is greater. Each member is entitled to one vote (as opposed to only one vote per state/caucus).

B. Committee Liaisons. In addition to members from state parties and caucuses, the PCSC will have one seat for liaisons from every standing committee of GPUS. The committee liaisons will not be considered voting members of the PCSC unless they are separately approved by state parties or caucuses. Committee liaisons are not subject to approval from the PCSC membership.

C. Advisors and Observers. The voting members of the committee may at their pleasure approve committee advisors and/or observers who are not voting members from states or caucuses, per the decision making process specified in these policies and procedures.

D. Inactivity. Members who have not participated on-line, in subcommittees, or on teleconferences in the last three months shall be considered inactive members and shall not be counted toward a quorum. An updated roster shall be sent to the e-mail list at least every three months.

E. Co-Chairs.

1. Two co-chairs, preferably reflecting gender balance, shall be elected with staggered terms of two years each. The method of conducting elections shall be Single Transferable Voting with a fractional Droop threshold, using the method specified in GPUS bylaws and rules for conducting Steering Committee elections. Members may nominate themselves. Vacancies shall cause a vote for a replacement co-chair. A recall election of a chair may be called, following the procedure for any proposal.

2. The responsibilities of the co-chairs shall include keeping the committee and its subcommittees and working groups on task, maintaining a current roster of committee members, conducting votes, and communicating with NC and SC members for the PCSC committee and its subcommittees and working groups. Co-chairs shall submit formal reports, with prior committee review, on at least a quarterly basis to the NC list detailing committee activities. The co-chairs shall come to explicit agreement and continue to consult with each other about how their joint responsibility is to be shared.

F. Other Subcommittees and Working Groups. The voting membership of the committee may at their pleasure create working groups and subcommittees through the typical proposal process. Any such working groups or subcommittees shall be bound by these committee policies and procedures unless otherwise specified in the proposal to establish the sub-body.

III. Committee Membership

A. Joining the Committee

1. New members shall be verified by written permission from their state party or caucus to serve on the committee.

2. No new member from a state party or caucus shall be seated if that individual exceeds the state party or caucus's allocated members on the committee, until such time that the state party or caucus clarifies which member(s) are to be removed.

3. State parties and caucuses, through their co-chairs or other appropriate officers, may change permission status for any committee member from their state at any time, subject to GPUS Bylaws.

B. Sanction or Removal of Members

1. The committee is expressly prohibited from using disagreements regarding differing views on issues and/or business before the committee as a cause for sanction or elimination of membership privileges.

2. The committee and its members have a responsibility for maintaining an open, civil, productive working environment, whether meeting in person, by telephone, online, or by any other means. The committee shall not tolerate actions including misrepresentation of the committee's or a member's work; financial improprieties; violent personal attacks and/or threats (verbal or physical); and discrimination against federal or state (where applicable) protected classes.

3. In the event of situations arising which can not be resolved within the committee, the use of facilitation, counseling, mediation, and/or arbitration services, as provided through the Dispute Resolution Committee or a mutually agreed upon outside source if necessary, shall be strongly recommended.

4. In extremely limited cases such as violent threats against other list members, the co-chair(s) have the discretion to suspend listserv posting privileges, and must immediately place such a suspension to a vote of the committee. The co-chair(s) lack discretion to take any other action without the direction of the committee as specified in this article.

5. Except as otherwise specified in this article, no suspension of privileges, or termination of membership via processes described in this article, but under no circumstances shall the ability to read a listserv or vote on proposals be revoked unless the following steps are taken:

a. The committee sends a warning to the individual that the behavior is interpreted by the committee as disruptive and ask that the individual please consider their actions, based on a vote as per the proposal guidelines.

b. The committee shall communicate with the member's state party or caucus requesting they intercede with the committee member regarding the behavior(s) in question.

6. Only after attempting to resolve situations internally per the above steps, a proposal may be introduced by means of petition to curtail membership privileges, as follows:

a. A petition specifying charge(s) and proposed action(s) may be filed by any three or more members of the committee from three different states (hereafter known as "the petitioners") to require the committee co-chair(s) to initiate and administrate formal action to curtail membership privileges.

b. Upon receipt of any such petition, the co-chair(s) shall forward the petition to the state party or caucus that the member represents.

c. A 2/3 quorum and 2/3 vote, by state, of the committee, shall be sufficient to confirm the charges and the initiate the action(s) detailed in the petition.

d. The committee co-chair(s) shall initiate and execute follow through on the approved action(s) and notify the member immediately following the vote.

e. After the member has been informed of disciplinary action, the co-chair(s) shall, in writing, notify the GPUS National Committee and the state party or caucus the member represents of the action taken.

f. The committee member in question may, within seven (7) days of these postings, appeal the committee's action by notifying the GPUS Secretary of the appeal. The Secretary shall forward the appeal to the National Committee.

g. Per GPUS bylaws and rules, any state party or caucus may put forward a proposal to the National Committee to lessen or overturn the action of the committee. A majority vote of the National Committee shall be sufficient to pass the proposal.}

IV. Decision-Making

A. The voting membership shall attempt to reach consensus on all proposals.

B. Failing consensus, for decisions pertaining to finance, rules, or other substantive decisions, a two-thirds majority vote is required for approval. For simple proposals including procedural ones, a majority vote is required for approval.

C. The committee shall maintain an email listserv for committee business and formal decision-making.

D. Teleconferences. The committee shall, as needed, conduct teleconferences for specific purposes. Notice of any committee teleconference shall be sent out to the e-mail list at least one week in advance and a reminder sent out two days before the teleconference. Such notice shall include a proposed agenda.

E. For online votes, quorum for decision-making shall consist of one-fifth of voting members from one-fifth of represented state parties and caucuses, with no less than five states/caucuses represented. Proposals considered online must allow for at least seven days of voting; upon any syntactical change to a proposal, a new seven-day period must begin.

F. For teleconference votes, quorum for decision-making shall consist of a majority of voting members from at least one-third of represented state parties and caucuses, with no less than five states/caucuses represented. Failing quorum on a teleconference, decisions will be reported out for a seven-day voting period on the listserv.

G. At face-to-face meetings at GPUS national meetings, quorum for decision-making shall consist of a majority of voting members from at least one-third of represented state parties and caucuses. Failing quorum on a teleconference, decisions will be reported out for a seven-day voting period on the listserv.


CONTACT: Phil Huckelberry, Co-Chair, PCSC,

P&Ps will need to be updated on GPUS website.



Questions about this system?
Contact the Voting Admin.
You can download a copy here.
Green Party of the United States